Abstract
English became a compulsory subject in elementary schools in Japan in 2020, making it crucial for pre-service elementary school teachers to gain sufficient knowledge, skills, and experience in teaching English to elementary school students before beginning their careers. This paper discusses the development of the Japanese Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages: Elementary (J-POSTL Elementary), a reflective tool for elementary school student teachers, highlighting three studies conducted before its launch in March 2021. First, the development of J-POSTL, a portfolio for secondary pre-service and in-service teachers, which formed the basis of the J-POSTL Elementary, will be briefly explained. This is followed by an anthology of studies conducted during the five-year development of the J-POSTL Elementary, with the study presented at AILA in August 2021 as a focal point. Lastly, examples of the implementation of the J-POSTL Elementary in teacher education programs at different universities in Japan will be discussed. Although the teacher educators used the portfolio in different ways, it was reported that the use of the J-POSTL Elementary was beneficial for their students to reflect on their English language learning experiences and didactic competencies, and to self-evaluate their teaching experiences. This shows that this reflection tool has great potential to help student teachers become more independent and autonomous practitioners.
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Acknowledgments
This paper was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, “Systematization of Portfolio as a Reflection Tool and Development of a Guide for Its Application” (Project No. 19H01288, Leader: Professor Emeritus Hisatake Jimbo). We would like to express our special thanks to Professor Emeritus Ken Hisamura who initiated the portfolio project and guided us throughout the development and the use of J-POSTL Elementary. We are also grateful to Professor Gaby Benthien, who provided insightful comments on the earlier manuscripts as well as editorial assistance. Last but not least, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all the students, teachers, and teacher educators who participated in the studies.
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Kurihara, F., Yamaguchi, T., Yoneda, S., Osada, E., Adachi, R. (2024). Developing J-POSTL Elementary for English Language Teacher Education in Japan: Challenges and Opportunities. In: Voerkel, P., Vaz Ferreira, M.A., Drescher, N. (eds) Tools, Techniques and Strategies for Reflective Second & Foreign Language Teacher Education. J.B. Metzler, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-68741-3_4
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